1. Field
Aspects of the present invention generally relate to an information processing apparatus, an information processing apparatus control method, and a storage medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is an increasing need to reduce the power consumption of an information processing apparatus, such as a printer or a digital multifunction peripheral. In response to this need, a technology is known for shifting the information processing apparatus from a normal power mode to a power saving mode when the information processing apparatus has not operated for a predetermined time, for example. In the normal power mode, power is supplied to both a main control unit and a communication unit of the information processing apparatus. On the other hand, in the power saving mode, although power continues to be supplied to the communication unit of the information processing apparatus, the power supply to the main control unit of the information processing apparatus is reduced or cut off. Therefore, the power saving mode reduces the power consumption of the overall information processing apparatus compared with the normal power mode. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-259906 discusses an information processing apparatus in which the main control unit responds to a packet received from an external apparatus when the information processing apparatus is in a normal power mode, and the communication unit responds to a received packet instead of the main control unit when the information processing apparatus is in a power saving mode.
Further, an information processing apparatus such as a printer or a digital multifunction peripheral can perform communication using Internet protocol security (IPSec) or transmission control protocol (TCP) communication. To perform such communication, a session has to be established between the information processing apparatus and an external apparatus.
For communication that requires a session to be established, such as IPSec and TCP, the information processing apparatus and the external apparatus both need to manage the session with each other, and periodically send and receive a session confirmation packet for confirmation of the session (keep-alive communication). A keep-alive communication allows the external apparatus to check that a link between the information processing apparatus and the external apparatus is operating, or to prevent the link from being broken. Since the communication unit discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-259906 does not perform session management and does not support keep-alive communication, even if the information processing apparatus shifts to the power saving mode, the information processing apparatus immediately shifts back to the normal power mode when a session confirmation packet is received, for example. Namely, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-259906, the power saving mode cannot be maintained in an environment which performs communication that requires a session to be established, so that the benefits of the power saving mode that reduces power consumption cannot be sufficiently obtained.
Further, if the communication unit is provided with a configuration to support session management and keep-alive communication, various pieces of hardware (e.g., an IPSec encoding/decoding unit) have to be provided in the communication unit. This results in the costs of the communication unit increasing, which leads to an increase in the costs of the overall information processing apparatus. Consequently, it is not desirable to provide a configuration to support session management and keep-alive communication in the communication unit.